Daredevil

Apparently she wanted to get a closer look at this Beggin' Strips Commercial. Ugh, just when I think I've got everything baby proofed to a certain level, she starts climbing!

She is not even standing on her own yet, but she was able to climb right up on her car and stand there for awhile. But don't worry, after I snapped the picture I made her get down.

Extreme Couponing

I want to be one of those Moms that can buy like $200 worth of groceries for 75 cents. But the entire process and lingo of "couponing" just seem so out of my element. Also it seems that a big part of making it work is to stockpile certain items when they are on sale and you have a coupon. Now that's all well and good if you live in a big house and have a giant pantry or garage to store 25 boxes of elbow macaroni or the like. But we live in a tiny 2 bedroom apartment that is quite frankly already busting at the seams with 2 adults and 1 semi-spoiled baby and all her stuff.
Plus all the time spent cutting and sorting and digging through recycling bins for extra copies of 35 cents off deodorant coupons, I don't think I can manage to squeeze in one more thing into my day.

Plus I think we do a pretty good job with saving money on groceries. We shop at Winco, pretty much only buy generic brands, we buy meat in bulk and repackage and freeze it in meal sized portions. I think if we had more than just the small refrigerator sized freezer compartment we would freeze a lot more. We buy snack items (chips, microwave popcorn, pop etc) at Dollar Tree, and household items such as laundry soap and toilet paper at Costco.

Well, I guess I'll give it a try and atleast get a Sunday paper this week. Who knows pretty soon I could be digging through our apartment complex recycling center....yea...umm...maybe not.

Stepford Moms

In an attempt to make friends with other women with children I've joined a playgroup on meetup.com. We've made it to several of the playdates, and while everyone is so nice and friendly I still feel like an imposter or something. And I start to feel like the only Mom who doesn't "have it together". I mean where are the other Moms with dark circles under their eyes, wearing baby barf stained t-shirts, and hair they can't remember the last time they ran a brush through? Frankly I just don't know if I can handle hanging out with women who are able to make it to a 10am playdate fully dressed with makeup and perfect hair! I am starting to wonder if they are like that everyday or if they really are sick enough to spend extra time to make themselves look nice for a bunch of other women. I'm lucky to get a shower everyday before 10pm, I am certainly not going to attempt to put on makeup while trying to keep my curious crusier out of the toilet!

I don't know, maybe it's me... or maybe I need to start a group for "unperfect" Moms who live in apartments and don't wear designer clothes. I keep telling myself to not give up, because Ammy has alot of fun with the other kids, and maybe I just need to re-learn how to have girl friends, because right now this is only reminding me of all the reasons I don't really have women friends.

My baby can sleep!!

My 9 month old daughter, who usually doesn't nap more than 30mins at a time, has actually taken 2 naps today! This morning she slept for about 1 hour and 15 mins, and she is currently still sleeping after about 1 hour and 40 mins. Of course this change in behavior has me worried...is she getting sick? Maybe it is a growth spurt? Teething? A part of me doesn't even want to hope that this could be a new trend! I can't imagine what things I'll beable to get done if she sleeps like this everyday! A shower before 10pm? Breakfast AND lunch in the same day? Do laundry AND be able to put it away? Wow...the possibilities are endless...

I just worry that all of this lovely napping is going to mess with her wonderful ability to sleep through the night. I've gotten used to her sleeping 8-10 hours at a stretch at night, I really don't think I want to give that up!

A little about Momland...

If someone would have told me about 2 years, that I would be sitting here today, a wife and a mother, I would have thought they were crazy!! I had reached the point where I didn't really think those things were in my future. I certainly didn't have any clue how those things would so drastically change everything in my life.

For most of my adult life my friends have mostly been gay men, yes folks I am a fag hag. I didn't really choose to only have gay male friends, it just sort of happened...my best friend from high school came out to me my Freshman year of college, and he started introducing me to people, and it just sort of snowballed from there. I have always said my friends are my friends because of the people they are not for who they sleep with. (Though a friend once pointed out that some of my friends are my friends because of who've they've slept with...lol) But with all of these gay friends, I guess I sort of "checked out" of the straight world, so while women my age were off getting married and having babies, I was "mothering" a gaggle of gay bois! Then I turn 30, and things really started to change in my life, and I found myself slowly being forced back into this "straight world" and realizing that I have no clue how to behave. The problem is, I don't feel like I belong in either world anymore. Some of those I once called friends don't seem to understand me now, and I have no clue how to go about making friends with these other women whom I feel like the only thing we have in common is the fact that we are mothers.

I'm not exactly what you'd call domestic. I attribute that to several factors, one being the fact that growing up I never really had to worry about doing chores, or learning about how a home is run. Some would say I was spoiled, and I guess for lack of a better term, I was. I grew up with my Dad and Grandparents, and being an only child of an only child...well, the sun rose and set on me for the most part. But it is the lack of domestic skills that I find really overwhelming as a stay at home Mom. I guess I'm just not sure of how to organize myself, let alone how to do it all while dealing with a baby!

Sometimes I feel like I've been thrust into someone elses life. Now don't get me wrong, I love my husband and daughter, and I wouldn't change having them for anything. I guess it is just that I don't really know how to live this new life, where to go, what to do. I understood how my life used to work, now I have no idea what I am supposed to do.

So dear reader, this is Jess in Momland. This is where I'll be writing about my experiences with motherhood, gay bois, being a wife, and finding my way through my new life. Stay tuned, I'm sure things will get interesting!